The Bush administration forced the Palestinian Authority to allow Hamas to participate in the electoral process. That was a big mistake. Hamas is not a political party. It is a terrorist army that has never hesitated to use its armed force to achieve its Islamist ends.

The same thing is happening in Lebanon. Hezbollah is not a political party, it is an armed insurrectionist gang of terrorists. To allow Hezbollah and Syria to seize control of the Lebanese government is a tragedy.

The same thing is happening in Egypt. Under the pretense of seeking more democracy, armed Islamist terrorists are moving towards a coup d'etat that will put them in control of the most populous Arab country.

Remember: it was the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood that spawned Zawahiri and the other masterminds of Al Qaeda.

Prominent current and former members of SEIU local 73 are being investigated for their potential ties to the Hamas and FARC terrorist groups.
Late last year, their homes were raided by the FBI, and they were subpoenaed to appear in front of a grand jury for questioning.
Joe Iosbaker, Chief Steward of SEIU 73, and Tom Burke (former board member of SEIU 73) are among 9 people who are subjects in the investigation. None of them have been charged with any crimes, yet.
Two days ago, they refused again to appear in front of the grand jury.
The interesting thing about these SEIU folks is that they also belong to a violently radical group called the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. From their website:

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is a revolutionary socialist and Marxist-Leninist organization in the United States. 1) We stand for the right to self-determination up to and including secession for the African American nation in the Black Belt South.
While rejecting Zionist claims on Palestine and white supremacist claims to a white southern nation or northwestern nation, we do acknowledge the fact that the most advanced sections of the Black liberation movement, from the 1800s on, have demanded a Black Republic in the South.

It gets worse from there.
This is the same group who, along with the other subjects of the FBI investigation, takes credit for staging the 2008 RNC protest-riots.
Shockingly, SEIU leadership is supporting their accused members, and the chosen strategy of not cooperating with law enforcement.

If you saw the National Democratic Party HQ looking like this, WHAT WOULD YOU THINK?

The national office of Egypt’s ruling party this morning.

This is not just some protest.

IMHO, tactically, either Mubarak has the support of the Army which WILL FIRE on the protestors en masse, or he is gone

Strategically, if the stories of the USA training certain protesters how to organize and change the govt (via the internet) are true, WE HAD BETTER BE READY TO GO ALL THE WAY against those who will act against these people LATER, FOR SURE.

In terms of peace in the Middle East, of course HAMAS IS the Muslim Brotherhood.

In terms of the goal of the Muslim Brotherhood, it is SHARIAH.

Al Ahzar is to their ‘left’.

THIS is Barack Obama’s test in foreign affairs.

Does the American admin. believe that the plurality to majority of people in Egypt want democratic freedoms but not Islamist govt, and will resist the Muslim Brotherhood (which they think is not totalitarian, anyway)?

Based on what? Where? On what historical back ground?

This conundrum is not the fault of the Obama Admin. This choice was made at the time of the Camp David Agreement, and reinforced by every admin since.

When Washington admonished to avoid foreign entanglements THIS is what he was talking about.

I will say again… if the USA wants to be ‘on the side of the angels’ we had better be prepared to GO ALL THE WAY to defend a democratic result of the revolt.

The man said to have carried out the assault is described as an "Asian", which is what the Brits call Pakistanis or Indians. Given that the assault was: a) at the EDL leader's house; b) began with the assailant throwing something at the house in an effort to draw him out, this seems to indicate that this was a deliberate attack and not some random act of violence or failed home invasion.

In fact, it sounds to me more like an attempt to scare the EDL leader into backing off. Which in my mind is an act of terrorism very much along the lines of the terror tactics used by the KKK in trying to suppress desegregationist sentiment.

Why do I think the result, no matter what it is, will not mimic Jefferson et al?

A number of police members removed their suits and joined protests against the regime, according to Al Arabiya.

The crowd threw stones at police lines and shouted slogans against President Hosni Mubarak, 82, and his son, Gamal, 47, who many Egyptian believe is being groomed for future office.

Iranian Media Hail Egypt ‘Revolution’

Media in the Arab world are generally reporting cautiously on the protests rocking Egypt following the shakeup in Tunisia, but those in Iran are giving the turmoil prominent, almost gleeful, coverage.

Sunni Egypt, viewed as the leader of the Arab world, and Shi’ite Iran are longstanding rivals.

Iranian outlets, especially those linked to the government and establishment, are using terms like “revolution” and “uprising” to describe the protests, painting the demonstrators as heroic and giving headline treatment to voices predicting the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak.

The approach is in sharp contrast to their treatment of Iran’s own political upheaval following disputed presidential elections 18 months ago

Which the US went out of it’s way to stay out of.

Whatever the right move is doesn’t matter because the Obama admin is a paralyzed Hamlet party, afraid to even soliloquize

Anyone see any ladies on the videos of huge Egyptian protests?

We don’t need no STEEEEEENKING secure border

Controversial Muslim cleric caught being smuggled into U.S. over Mexico border

U.S. border guards got a surprise when they searched a Mexican BMW and found a hardline Muslim cleric - banned from France and Canada - curled up in the boot.

Said Jaziri, who called for the death of a Danish cartoonist that drew pictures of the prophet Mohammed, was being smuggled into California when he was arrested, along with his driver Kenneth Robert Lawler.

The 43-year-old was deported from Canada to his homeland Tunisia in 2007 after it emerged he had lied on his refugee application about having served jail time in France.

His fire and brimstone sermons and rabble-rousing antics catapulted him into the public eye during his short tenure as imam at a Montreal mosque.

He branded homosexuality a disease and led protests over cartoonist Kurt Westergaard’s illustrations poked fun at Islam and were published in a Danish newspaper in 2006.

He also caused anger when he campaigned for a bigger mosque to accommodate Montreal’s burgeoning Muslim population.

But after his deportation he complained that he had been physically and mentally tortured during the 13-hour flight repatriating him to Tunisia, a claim Canadian authorities deny.

He was being held as a material witness in the criminal case against Mr Lawler, who has been charged with immigrant smuggling.

Jaziri had allegedly paid a Tijuana-based smuggling cartel $5,000 to take him across the border near Tecate, saying he wanted to be taken to a ‘safe place anywhere in the U.S.’

According to the court documents, a Mexican guide led Jaziri and a Mexican immigrant over the border fence near Tecate.

They then trekked across the rugged terrain under cover of darkness to a spot popular for drivers who pick up immigrants for smuggling runs into San Diego.

He allegedly told officials he had flown from Africa to Europe, then to Central America and Chetumal, Mexico, on the Mexico-Belize border, where he took a bus to Tijuana.

Lise Garon, a professor of communications at Laval University in Quebec City, told the Los Angeles Times: ‘His nickname in Quebec was the controversial imam.

‘I think he was deported because people hated his ideas.’

His case drew support from the Muslim community as well as Amnesty International after he claimed he would be tortured if sent back to Tunisia.

Congressman Jim Moran Talks to Arab TV

And denounces those who oppose Obama's agenda as racists. FromPolitico:

Speaking to Arab television network Alhurra, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) said Republicans made big gains in November in part because “a lot of people in this country … don’t want to be governed by an African-American.”

Even more objectionable to some Americans, he said, is that Obama is a black president “who is inclusive, who is liberal, who wants to spend money on everyone and who wants to reach out to include everyone in our society — that’s a basic philosophical clash.”

Moran’s remarks came Tuesday in an interview conducted after Obama delivered his State of the Union speech. Democrats, Moran said, lost for “the same reason the Civil War Happened in the United States … the Southern states, particularly the slaveholding states, didn’t want to see a president who was opposed to slavery.” Virginia, of course, is one of those Southern, formerly slaveholding states....

Thus, Moran is promoting white guilt.

The Civil War is over. Sure, racism still exists in the United States. There's no denying that fact. But to attribute the results of the 2010 elections exclusively to racism is inaccurate and denial of the will of the American people as they exercised that will at the ballot box last November. Besides, the district from which Moran runs for office is overwhelmingly white (liberal), and Democrat Moran got re-elected. Or maybe Moran has decided that Virginia, particularly Northern Virginia is not part of the South - never mind that slaves were indeed held in bondage here in Northern Virginia.

And what the hell is Moran doing talking to Arab television, anyway? Following Obama's lead, I suppose. Obama spoke with al-Arabiya in one of his first interviews after taking office in January 2009.

Here in Northern Virginia, Congressman Moran sometimes runs for office without opposition. And when an opponent does challenge Moran for that particular seat in Congress, Moran trounces him. Never mind Moran's frequent off-the-cuff remarks:

Moran has gotten in trouble for his off-the-cuff remarks in the past. In 2007, he alleged that the “extraordinarily powerful” pro-Israel lobby played a major role in promoting the U.S. war in Iraq. A strong supporter of his district’s Muslim community, Moran faced criticism from Jewish groups in 2003 for saying that then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was visiting Washington “probably seeking a warrant from President Bush to kill at will with weapons we’ve paid for.”

Moran is standing by his recent statements about Obama and racist America.

UK: Two Muslim men charged with stirring up homophobic hatred

Two men from Derby have been charged with stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.

It is the first such prosecution since laws outlawing homophobia came into force in March 2010.

Razwan Javed, 30, and Kabir Ahmed, 27, will appear before magistrates on Friday.

The charges relate to a leaflet, The Death Penalty?, which was distributed outside the Jamia Mosque in Derby in July last year.

The leaflets were also posted through letterboxes in the city.

Mr Javed and Mr Ahmed have both been charged with distributing threatening written material intending to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Sue Hemming said: "This is the first ever prosecution for this offence and it is the result of close working between the Crown Prosecution Service and Derbyshire Police.

Muslims' duty to exterminate Jews in Islamic Holocaust

The Muslims' vicious anti-Jewish enmity (see links under 'Jews - attacks on' in The Index) goes back long before the establishment of the state of Israel. In fact it goes back to the foundation of Islam by the sick, twisted pervert Mohammed.

Muslims have a binding religious obligation to completely exterminate the Jews, which is commanded by Allah and set out in the Islamic scriptures.

This enmity originated when Mohammed tried to convince the Arabian Jews that he was the real Messiah, but his knowledge of the Jewish religion was so inaccurate that they rejected him as an obvious conman and probable nutjob. Mohammed then flew into a tantrum and called for the extermination of the entire Jewish nation. Here are some examples of the genocidal Muslim scriptures and how the Muslims explain them, in their own words:

Genocidal aspect of the Global Jihad
Muslims refuse to condemn and repudiate the hadith which reads: “The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time [of judgment] will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!” (Sahih Muslim book 41, no. 6985);
- http://www.jihadwatch.org/2008/08/usc-msa-removes-does-not-repudiate-genocidal-hadith.html

Israel is irrelevant
"Your belief regarding the Jews should be, first, that they are infidels, and second, that they are enemies. They are enemies not because they occupied Palestine. They would have been enemies even if they did not occupy a thing. Allah said: “You shall find the strongest men in enmity to the disbelievers [sic] to be the Jews and the polytheists.”

Third, you must believe that the Jews will never stop fighting and killing us. They [fight] not for the sake of land and security, as they claim, but for the sake of their religion: “And they will not cease fighting you until they turn you back you’re your religion, if they can.”

Jews descended from apes and pigs
"As for you Jews – the curse of Allah upon you. The curse of Allah upon you, whose ancestors were apes and pigs. You Jews have sown hatred in our hearts, and we have bequeathed it to our children and grandchildren.. You will not survive as long as a single one of us remains.

[...]

"Oh Jews, may the curse of Allah be upon you. Oh Jews... Oh Allah, bring Your wrath, punishment, and torment down upon them. Allah, we pray that you transform them again, and make the Muslims rejoice again in seeing them as apes and pigs. You pigs of the earth! You pigs of the earth! You kill the Muslims with that cold pig [blood] of yours."

Kill them down to the very last one
"Oh Allah, Take This Oppressive, Jewish, Zionist Band Of People; Oh Allah, Do Not Spare A Single One Of Them; Oh Allah, Count Their Numbers, And Kill Them, Down To The Very Last One"

"Oh Allah, take your enemies, the enemies of Islam. Oh Allah, take the Jews, the treacherous aggressors. Oh Allah, take this profligate, cunning, arrogant band of people. Oh Allah, they have spread much tyranny and corruption in the land. Pour Your wrath upon them, oh our God. Lie in wait for them. Oh Allah, You annihilated the people of Thamoud at the hand of a tyrant, and You annihilated the people of 'Aad with a fierce, icy gale. Oh Allah, You annihilated the people Thamoud at the hand of a tyrant, You annihilated the people of 'Aad with a fierce, icy gale, and You destroyed the Pharaoh and his soldiers – oh Allah, take this oppressive, tyrannical band of people. Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one." - http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/01/muslim-reformist-oh-allah-take-this-oppressive-jewish-zionist-band-of-people-oh-allah-do-not-spare-a.html

'Imams and Rabbis for Peace' Taqiyya-fest
A Hamas cleric who once participated in an international conference of "Imams and Rabbis for Peace" -- whose delegates vowed to "condemn any negative representation" of each other's religions -- has wholeheartedly espoused Hamas's racist ideology in a recent Friday sermon on Hamas TV.

Ironically, this latest profession of Hamas's genocidal racism was preached and broadcast at the start of the month in which the UN is meeting in the "Durban II" conference in Geneva to condemn Israel as being "racist."

According to the Hamas interpretation of Islam, the Jews are inherently evil, seek to rule the world, and are a threat to Muslims and all of humanity. Therefore they are destined to extermination. In the words of Hamas religious leader ZiadAbuAlhaj, "Hatred for Muhammad and Islam is in their [Jews'] souls, they are naturally disposed to it..."

He asserts that because of the Jews' inherent evil, the Jewish state, "Israel ... is a cancer that wants to rule the world." One can find the details of the Jews' plan in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which he jokingly refers to as "The Protocols of the Imbeciles of Zion" (a play on words in Arabic). He concludes that the Jews are destined to be annihilated:

"Where Hitler failed, we must succeed.”
Incidentally, this is the same man who once said: “The Jews are destined to be persecuted, humiliated, and tortured forever, and it is a Muslim duty to see to it that they reap their due. No petty arguments must be allowed to divide us. Where Hitler failed, we must succeed.” So much for "interreligious dialogue" -- the purpose of the meeting. "PA Sheikh Interrupts Pope's Speech, Slams Israel," by MaayanaMiskin for Israel National News, May 11:

A senior Palestinian Authority Muslim leader interrupted a meeting of religious leaders in Jerusalem on Monday night as Pope Benedict XVI was speaking. The leader, SheikhTayseeral-Tamimi, began harshly criticizing Israel, and ignored calls for calm. Al-Tamimi, who heads the PA's Sharia (Muslim law) courts, accused Israel of “murdering women and children and destroying mosques” and “destroying Palestinian cities.” He also laid claim to Jerusalem as “the Palestinian people's capital,” and called on those present to “defend the Palestinians against the expropriation of their lands.”

When Tamimi finished speaking, the pope immediately left the hall. According to IDF Army Radio, the pope shook Tamimi's hand before leaving.

The Muslim Brotherhood - Raising the Stakes

NYT:

Smoke rose over the city of Suez on Thursday as sometimes violent clashes continued there. In the capital, a relative calm settled over the streets in anticipation of a new wave of demonstrations anticipated for Friday.

Raising the stakes, the Muslim Brotherhood, long the country’s largest organized opposition group, intends to end days of official inaction to enter fully into protests on Friday. On its Web site, the group said it would join “with all the national Egyptian forces, the Egyptian people, so that this coming Friday will be the general day of rage for the Egyptian nation.”

Mr. El Baradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency who has sought to refashion himself as pro-democracy campaigner in his homeland, is viewed by some supporters as capable of uniting the country’s fractious opposition and offering an alternative to Mr. Mubarak’s authoritarian rule. Critics view him as an opportunist who has spent too little time in the country to take control of a movement which began without his leadership.

Mr. Biden's comments are unlikely to be well-received by regime opponents, as they fit a narrative of steadfast US support for a government they want to bring down. About eight protesters and one policeman have died this week as Egypt has sought to bring down the heavy hand of the state against opponents. Since the US provides about $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt a year, the repressive apparatus of the state is seen by many in Egypt as hand in glove with the US.

What sort of Mujahid activity is appropriate if the USA government has devoted an entire spy and research satellite to do covert surveillance and monitor your subconscious mind? In addition, you are being surrounded day and night by intelligence actors who are performing a vicious homosexual recruitment campaign against you. It makes it dangerous for me to reach out to any good brothers as they could find themselves targeted as well. Although my individual Jihad efforts are strong and sophisticated, and I can disrupt their collective stalking efforts with ease, life is simply filthy. They will routinely break into my apartment or hotel, administer a sleeping gas and abuse my body from poking holes in my toe or fingernails to raping me such that I wake up with rectal pain.
There are too many of these filthy Shaitan conspirators for me to deal justice to myself though I am effectively prevented from networking with other good brothers. As they have seemingly turned my life into a Shaitan conspiracy television show there must be something productive or useful I can do with all of this nonsense to deal a crushing blow against the transgressors. I have already studied them in detail and exposed their secrets on the web quite effectively. I have a > 2000 person group on facebook dedicated to freeing me from the USA governments oppression. Any ideas?
A'ouzu billah min ash-shaitan ir-rajim. May Allah punish those doing foul deeds.

Yeah, I'm sure that homosexuals have to try real hard to "recruit" Greg "Abdul Muid" Morse. Nothing about him screams gay. Nothing!
But the best part comes from his blog:

In May/June of 2009, though I did not realize it at the time, I was raped during my sleep. One night I turned on the Comedy Central television show, The Daily Show, and at the exact moment a homosexual subliminal message came on in the form of a joke by the host Jon Stewart, I started to experience severe rectal pain. My assumption was that a directed energy weapon was being used either on my rectum to create the pain or on my subconscious mind to simulate the feeling of pain. I now believe that rectal pain suppressors are used to suppress the nerves that express pain in this area.

Oddly, every time I hear Jon Stewart tell a joke I get severe rectal pain too. I'm not ruling out the CIA, but neither am I ruling out that Jon Stewart jokes are so painfully unfunny that rectal pain is par for the course.

Shocking and disturbing video has surfaced of a Taliban-controlled village in Afghanistan stoning a man and woman for allegedly eloping while the man was still married.

According to ABC News, “about 200 people listen to a Taliban mullah describe why a man and woman deserve to be killed. A few dozen spectators — people from the local community — start throwing rocks at the woman, who had already been placed in a 4-foot-deep hole. They throw with relish and yell, ‘Allah akbar.’”

When the stones don’t kill her, a man picks up an AK-47 rifle and shoots the woman. The same sequence occurs with the man, who is blindfolded with his own tunic and cries as he is killed by even larger rocks:

(The Blaze video is from ABC and has been edited by ABC. This is the Unedited version. -- mr)

“When a married woman commits adultery, she will be struck by stones — this is called sangsar in Arabic,” the Taliban mullah says before the murders, according to ABC. “The women you see here today committed adultery with this man. She has admitted this herself not once, but many times… Islamic law will be enforced here in Kunduz, by the grace of God. They will both be punished, these two people.”

London’s Daily Mail reports the stonings happened last August in the district of Dashte Archi, in Kunduz. It says the woman, a 19-year old named Siddqa, fled an arranged marriage where she was sold to a man for $9,000 against her will. She ran away to be with another man, a 25-year-old named Khayyam, who was already married and had two children. The pair eloped to Pakistan.

After running away, the couple was told they would not be harmed if they returned. That was a lie

Disgustingly, a Taliban spokesman defended the stonings to the BBC. “Anyone who knows about Islam knows that stoning is in the Koran, and that it is Islamic law,” Zabiullah Mujahid said.

But Fauzia Kofi, a female member of parliament from northern Afghanistan, told ABC News the Taliban is misunderstanding the Koran.

“That understanding of Islam that Taliban has is a … lack of the proper understanding of Islam and Islamic values,” Kofi said. “The Islam that I represent actually saved women from being buried alive 1,400 years back. I don’t know what kind of Islam they represent, that they can kill so easily.”

Still, the Taliban’s view of Islam is echoed in other parts of the Muslim world. For example, the ongoing saga of Iranian Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani continues to worry some, after she was sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly cheating on and murdering her husband. That sentence was later stayed, but she could still face the death penalty.

And just last week, the International Committee Against Stoning reported two gay Iranian men faced the same sentence for engaging in homosexual acts.

UPDATE:

As many readers have pointed out, an Iraqi immigrant is currently on trial in Arizona for an alleged “honor killing.” Prosecutors say Faleh Hassan Almalek ran over his daughter, Noor, with his car because she was becoming “too westernized.”

In Britain, the Muslim brother of 22-year-old Harry Potter actress Afshan Azad was jailed after he pleaded guilty to beating the young woman for dating a Hindu man.

El Baradei: I am ready to lead protests in EgyptBy ASSOCIATED PRESS01/27/2011 19:23

Pro-democracy advocate returns; Mubarak's party dismissive of protesters: "The minority does not force its will on the majority."

CAIRO — Egypt's ruling party said Thursday it was ready for a dialogue with the public but offered no concessions to address demands for a solution to rampant poverty and political change heard in the country's largest anti-government protests in years.

At the same time, the grass roots protest movement was getting a double boost likely to energize the largest anti-government demonstrations Egypt has seen in years. Mohammed ElBaradei, a Nobel peace laureate and the country's top pro-democracy advocate, was returning to the country Thursday night and declared he was ready to lead the protests. The country's largest opposition group — the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood — also threw its support behind the demonstrations

Rioting and protests erupted for a third straight day and social networking sites were abuzz with talk that Friday's rallies could be some of the biggest so far calling for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak after 30-years in power. Millions gather at mosques across the city for Friday prayers, providing organizers with a huge number of people already out on the streets to tap into.

Safwat El-Sherif, the secretary general of the National Democratic Party and a longtime confidant of Mubarak, was dismissive of the protesters at the first news conference by a senior ruling party figure since the protests began.

"We are confident of our ability to listen. The NDP is ready for a dialogue with the public, youth and legal parties," he said. "But democracy has its rules and process. The minority does not force its will on the majority."

Mubarak not seen in public since protests began

The 82-year-old Mubarak has not been seen in public or heard from since the protests began Tuesday with tens of thousands marching in Cairo and a string of other cities.

Mubarak has not said yet whether he will stand for another six-year term as president in elections this year. He has never appointed a deputy and is thought to be grooming his son Gamal to succeed him despite popular opposition. According to leaked US memos, hereditary succession also does not meet with the approval of the powerful military.

Mubarak has seen to it that no viable alternative to him has been allowed to emerge. Constitutional amendments adopted in 2005 by the NDP-dominated parliament has made it virtually impossible for independents like ElBaradei to run for president.

Mubarak's administration suffered another serious blow Thursday when the stock market crashed. The benchmark index fell more than 10 percent by close, its biggest drop in more two years on the back of a 6 percent fall a day earlier.

The protesters have already achieved a major feat by sustaining their demonstrations for three days in the face of a brutal police crackdown. Seven people have been killed, hundreds hurt and nearly 1,000 detained.

The government has banned all gatherings and police have fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and used water cannons to disperse crowds. They have also fired live ammunition in the air at time to warn people and there have been many scenes of riot police in helmets and shields charging crowds and beating people with batons and plainclothes police beating demonstrators with long sticks.

Thousands protest in Cairo, other cities

Scores of protesters gathered in Cairo and other cities Thursday. In the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, east of Cairo, hundreds of protesters clashed with police who used tear gas and batons to disperse them.

Associated Press reporters saw scores of protesters outside the downtown Cairo offices of Egypt's lawyers' union, which has been one of the flashpoints of this week's unrest. About 100 people were also protesting outside police headquarters in the city of Suez east of Cairo, another hot spot.

There were two other small, peaceful protests by lawyers in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta town of Toukh, north of Cairo. In the northern Sinai area of Sheik Zuweid, clashes between several hundred beduin and police left a 17-year-old man dead.

ElBaradei, who has emerged as a prime challenger to Mubarak's rule, told reporters at the Vienna airport on his way back to Egypt that he was seeking regime change and ready to lead the opposition.

"The regime has not been listening," ElBaradei said. "If people, in particular young people, if they want me to lead the transition, I will not let them down. My priority right now ... is to see a new regime and to see a new Egypt through peaceful transition."

A spokesman for ElBaradei, Abdul-Rahman Samir, said the former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog was expected to join protests planned for after the Friday prayers.

ElBaradei urged authorities to exercise restraint with protesters expressing their "legitimate need" for an Egypt that is democratic and based on social justice.

ElBaradei returned to Egypt last year after living abroad for decades and has created a wave of support from reformists. But he so far insisted he would not run in this year's presidential election unless restrictions on who is eligible to contest the vote are lifted and far reaching political reforms are introduced.

His support base is primarily made up of youths and he is seen as untainted by corruption. But his detractors say he may be lacking a thorough understanding of life here because of the decades he has lived abroad, first as an Egyptian diplomat and later with the United Nations.

Muslim Brotherhood expresses support for protests

The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood also expressed support for the demonstrations, raising the prospect that members of Egypt's largest and best-organized opposition group could join Friday's demonstrations in mass. If they do, it could swell the numbers on the streets significantly. But the group has stopped short of an outright call for its backers to turn out.

The Muslim Brotherhood called on its website for protests to remain peaceful. It also called for new parliamentary elections under judicial supervision, the introduction of far-reaching reforms and the lifting of emergency laws in force since 1981.

The Brotherhood made a surprisingly strong showing in parliamentary elections in 2005, when it won 20 percent of seats and served as the main opposition bloc in the legislature. In the latest parliament elections held in November, the Brotherhood failed to win even a single seat. It decried widespread fraud by the ruling party and boycotted the runoffs.

The vote gave the ruling party all but a small fraction of the chamber's 518 seats, an outcome that analysts say chipped away further at the regime's legitimacy and likely contributed to the discontent being vented on the streets this week.

"The movement of the Egyptian people that began January 25 and has been peaceful, mature and civilized must continue against corruption, oppression and injustice until its legitimate demands for reform are met," said the statement.

"We are not pushing this movement, but we are moving with it. We don't wish to lead it but we want to be part of it," said Mohammed Mursi, a senior Brotherhood leader.

The stock market crash, which brought year-to-date losses to almost 21 percent, hit at the core of some of the regime's main accomplishments. The president has built his legacy continuing and expanding the open market policies launched by his predecessor, Anwar Sadat, in the 1970s.

While Egyptian officials have boasted about healthy economic growth figures, critics have argued that ambitious economic reforms have done little more than make the rich even richer while poverty, unemployment and prices rise unabated.

British dhimmi David Hine continues on that very path

The British-born writer who wrote that whitewashy, morally equivalent story of Batman recruiting an Algerian Muslim in France gave an interview to the leftist Graphic Policy site, where he continues to be as insular as ever, and sees conservatives as merely manufacturing the news. He begins by defending his standings with the following:

I have lived in Paris and spent a lot of time there. My partner is French, my son attends French school here in London. So France, and specifically Paris, was the obvious location.

Well duh, plenty of British have spent time in France, and vice versa. The problem here lies within his political viewpoints, veering left on the superhighway at 900 miles per hour, and what he really thinks of the French as a whole. I've been to France too, but do I adhere to the kind of socialist leanings and contempt he probably has? Nope.

GP: During the creation of the character, was there any discussion at all as to how the public might react to him?

DH: Only within the fictional world of the story itself. There is a lot of hostility towards the French Algerian community from some sections of the French public and we planned to explore the complications that might arise. We certainly envisaged right wing and racist reaction to a character who, because of their prejudices, would not be regarded as a true Frenchman. We talked about a scene where Nightrunner would unmask and declare himself to be a proud citizen of France. For the moment he’s going to remain masked and anonymous. There’s an irony to his being viewed as part of the establishment by his own community. It makes for some interesting potential for the development of a conflicted character. Honestly though, it never occurred to me for a moment that the very fact of choosing a fictional character with French Algerian, or Muslim background would in itself be controversial.

Wow, he really thinks even I'd care if the character was Algerian. I don't care about his race and/or ethnicity. What I care about is his default religion, Islam, whose Koran/Hadith contains creepy verses like, "Your women are your fields, so go into your fields whichever way you like" - Sura 2:223. And, lest we forget, there's also the matter of "prophet" Mohammed's marriage to a 9-year-old girl, Ayesha. (See also this topic and this one for more insight). I assume Hine considers that "normal"? If this were an Algerian Christian, maybe even an apostate from Islam, who was the protagonist, all this disgust at Hine and company's subtle insult wouldn't have been.

His ambiguous reference to "some sections" of the French public is insulting, as is his dislike of conservatives, and it makes no difference whether "Nightrunner" is thought by his own community as a member of establishment; it's the whitewash of Islam that's concerning, not to mention how the story otherwise depicts the French law enforcement as the aggressor (shades of how anti-Israelists depict our own authorities).

GP: In another interview you said you’d like Nightrunner be a character the French would like to see. How’s their reaction been to him? Has there been any controversy over his introduction there?

DH: We’ve had a lot of very positive reaction. Most people in France are very pleased to see their country get its own hero and particularly its own Batman. It’s always tough to depict a country and culture, as an outsider. There will always be nit-picking about how accurate our depiction of Paris has been, just as we British always examine every element of a comic written by an American, set in the UK. I did my best to make sure locations were accurate, although I’m sure a few errors will have slipped through.

And what's that supposed to mean? That the French are stupid and have no knowledge of how to judge a story, and will take what's offered no matter what? It figures that such a Briton would be so murky and otherwise contemptible. I may not be French, but if I were, I can assure you I wouldn't take kindly to this, and it's got nothing to do with whether or not the character is indigenous. It's just his chilling religion.

GP: What’s your reaction been to the controversy surrounding the character?

DH: It was really unexpected. The character doesn’t strike me as particularly controversial. I thought we had moved on from a time when a non-white Anglo-Saxon character might be seen as unusual. I realize this is part of an anti-Muslim sentiment in a tiny segment of the online community, as much as a racial thing. I get the impression that there are people who spend their time trawling the internet to find any mention of Islam that they can get outraged about. But it feels like a manufactured outrage and I don’t take it too seriously.

Again, he fogs it all up as "racial", in his failure to distinguish between race and religion. A man or woman who cannot distinguish between race and religion is not a very well educated person, IMHO. He should also consider the rage manufacturing his own country's spent its time doing, like that there was ever a "palestinian Arab people" who existed. Or how about what may be the first anti-Jewish pogrom in Europe, which, as Melanie Phillips wrote in City Journal, took place in none other than England:

[...] Britain has always had an ambivalent relationship with the Jews. Medieval England actually led the European charge against them. The blood libel is thought to have originated in twelfth-century England; and in 1290, after numerous pogroms against its Jewish citizens, it expelled them altogether. It was not until 1656 that, for a variety of economic and religious reasons, Oliver Cromwell allowed Jews to return to England.

This occured during the time of King Edward I of the Plantagenets, well before Spain and Russia instigated their own pogroms. On a related note, is this horror not something that requires outrage? Maybe he should take some time to think before he says we're not supposed to be angry about what a religion and Koran he clearly hasn't studied teaches and leads to. But I doubt he ever will.

Oh, and I thought we'd moved on from a time when it seemed as though indigenous Bulgarians, Ghanians, and Armenians didn't exist in entertainment, but do you actually see them seriously emphasized in entertainment today? Not really. Not even the Ainu of Japan seem to get much attention; it's as though they don't exist either! What's so special about a religion like Islam that isn't so special about a race like the Armenians? And why is Mannix one of the very few protagonists of his background in showbiz ever since the series ended its 1967-75 run on TV?

Hine goes on to say:

GP: Have you been following the bloggers at all? Or do you ignore such comments?

DH: Normally I would ignore them, but once this started spreading across the net, I did have a look at some of the sites. So much anger, so much hate, so much unfocussed rage and fear. I found them profoundly depressing.

Is that also his opinion on 9-11 Families for a Safe & Strong America and their opposition to the Ground Zero mosque abomination? No surprise he would merely dismiss the movement against the whitewash of Islam so cynically.

GP: The coverage of the story has been worldwide. Where the most surprising place you’ve seen it covered or had to do an interview with?

DH: I’ve been approached by all kinds of people, from the BBC to Arabic radio and TV, French radio and TV and even The Daily Show in the USA. I’ve avoided most of it, because I don’t think this is a truly controversial topic and is best ignored. But I am fascinated by the viral nature of the story’s spread. It even made Wikileaks.

But it didn't make sales, and hasn't really spread in media coverage that widely either. Not for long anyway. But I think he did appear on BBC radio, that most awful of the apologists for jihad.

The following Q&A, however, is really disturbing:

GP: With the tragic events in Arizona fresh on everyone’s mind, have you received threats over the character?

DH: No. It’s all hot air. A few verbal ‘insults’ have been thrown my way, but being called ‘Leftist’ or ‘Politically Correct’ doesn’t bother me.

What is this supposed to be? What's the tragedy in Arizona got to do with this? Is this some sort of attempt to hijack something unrelated as part of the left's effort to demonize the right over something that leftist ideologyactuallycaused? But if that's how he and they feel, what do they think of the cases of Tea Party members who've beenreceiving death threats? I'm really disappointed, but not surprised, at how contemptible they are of people who oppose violent mindsets and the trivializing of the same, which is just what this pretentious man from the UK has engaged in.

One more thing: about that claim they were thinking of introducing a French crimefighter called the Musketeer? I'll bet he and they contrived that as a defense because of how goofy it could sound. If I were creating a French vigilante for a book like the Dark Knight's, "Musketeer" wouldn't be at the top of my list; I'd want it to be something more straightforward. Speaking of which, "Nightrunner" is actually pretty weak for a code name too.

Having It Both Ways

The above headline from an Israeli newspaper describes with unfailing accuracy the pivotal events now taking place in the Middle East. In Egypt, the Arab world’s largest and most populous country of more than 80 million, massive demonstrations involving tens of thousands of people began on Tuesday in what was billed as a “Day of Anger” and are continuing despite a ban by a very rattled government. Smaller protests are likewise occurring in Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Algeria. The domino effect so feared by Middle Eastern strongmen after Tunisian protesters chased their president from power earlier this month after a 24-year rule may soon become reality in Egypt.

Inspired by events in Tunisia, demonstrators took to the streets in Cairo on Tuesday to protest against President Hosni Mubarak’s corrupt, authoritarian regime, demanding political freedoms and higher wages. During those demonstrations, which saw water cannon and tear gas employed, three people died in encounters with security forces. A policeman was also killed.

“With us, there has been a cautious reawakening of belief in our own strength,” an Egyptian journalist told the German newspaper, Die Welt.

According to the Egyptian newspaper, The Daily News, the demonstrations were organized by the National Association for Change, which contains various opposition groups, and the Popular Parliament. January 25 was chosen as the day to launch mass movement because it coincided with a national holiday that commemorates another famous protest in Egyptian history. On this date in 1952, Egyptian police rose up against the British occupation.

Mubarak has ruled Egypt for the past 30 years under a state of emergency, imposed in 1981, that has allowed him to deal harshly with dissent. Under this law, large anti-government demonstrations, like the ones currently underway in Egypt, were quickly ended. Like most other Arab countries, Egypt has also been badly ruled during Mubarak’s time.

Corruption, unemployment, a stagnant economy and a dishonest, inefficient bureaucracy were the time bombs that caused the current explosion in Egypt, as they did in Tunisia. But unlike Tunisia, which has a 78 percent literacy rate and a developed, although frustrated, middle class, the majority of Egyptians are illiterate and live in grinding poverty. Egyptian cities are crowded with the poor. Exploitation of workers and child labor are also common. What is worse, the small, well-off ruling class appears not to care and has done little to remedy this appalling situation.

“We undoubtedly have enough problems in order to justify a revolution,” the journalist said.

Arab governments like Egypt’s are not unaware of the grievances that caused the Arab street to explode. Nepotism and control of the economy by the rulers’ friends and families have led to economic stagnation and high unemployment. But Arab leaders have refused to introduce liberal reforms to address the problems, fearing an Arab “perestroika” would see them swept away like the communist regimes in Eastern Europe.

Traditional methods of maintaining civil control also do not appear to be working. Large security forces and handouts to the population, the traditional methods of quelling popular unrest in Arab countries, were ineffective in Tunisia and are proving similarly ineffective in Egypt. The police appear to have have lost their power to intimidate the Egyptian population and prevent the demonstrations from growing into a destabilizing threat. In the past, anti-government demonstrators feared to appear on Egypt’s streets. Now, in contrast, protesters are tearing up posters with Mubarak’s image, yelling: “Mubarak, you’re plane awaits you.” One Arab publication reported that Mubarak’s son and heir, Gamal Mubarak, took the protesters’ advice and left on Wednesday with his family for England.

Adding to the government’s current woes are modern communications. Although security forces have shut down Twitter in Egypt, the tool cited for its value in organizing the Tunisian revolt, the demonstrations are continuing, probably with the help of cell phones.

The official American response to the events in Egypt, one of its only allies in the Arab world, has been low-key. According to the New York Times, Hillary Clinton said the Egyptian government is “stable,” while American ambassador to Egypt, Margaret Scobey called on Egyptian officials in a statement to “allow peaceful demonstrations.”

“The U.S. wants to see reform occur in Egypt and elsewhere to create political, social and economic opportunity, consistent with people’s aspirations,” the statement read.

Observers question, though, whether Arab states, after effecting changes in regime, can create the political, social and economic opportunities the United States government desires. It is hard to conceive of these countries reversing their appalling records regarding treatment of minorities and women and reorient themselves towards building the democratic institutions necessary for economic prosperity and cultural advancement. It is questionable whether the innovation and creativity needed to launch the Arab world in a positive new direction even exists.

Ali A. Alawi, an Iraqi Muslim, goes even further, stating in his book The Crisis Of Islamic Civilization, that Islamic civilization is a dying civilization, which has not created much of importance in centuries. And Alawi states there is no returning to its greatness since Muslims have distanced themselves so much from their Islamic roots. Overall, Alawi maintains, “[T]he Muslim innovative capacity has degraded in a fundamental sense.”

And things are not much better for Arab countries on the economic front. Except for a few oil and gascompanies, the Arab world has no large corporations that could provide jobs for its 25 million unemployed young men (Unemployment runs at 20 to 30 percent in most Arab states). In total, when oil and gas are subtracted, the exports of the whole Arab world with its 350 million people equal in value those of Finland with five million.

The disappearance of Arab strongmen like Tunisia’s ruler, and now possibly Mubarak, opens up the ominous and dangerous potential for a Khomeini-style 1979 Islamist victory befalling Egypt — which would be a catastrophic development not only for American and Israeli security interests, but for the Egyptian people themselves. One need only recall Khomeini’s killing fields and his Islamic Republic’s vicious history, continued to this day, to understand the horrifying consequences of Islamists succeeding in exploiting the current strife in Egypt to their benefit.

However corrupt Egypt’s regime may have been or continues to be, Mubarak succeeded in keeping the Islamists and the religious radicals in check. The Muslim Brotherhood, a major fundamentalist Egyptian opposition group that Mubarak had banned, will definitely try to take advantage of any further economic frustration or breakdown to set up the longed-for Islamic state, probably by promising those who have nothing that they will create a Muslim utopia of social justice, patterned after the Prophet Mohammad’s rule. That is the bait to hijack the revolution, like the Bolsheviks promised “peace, land and bread” to the uneducated, downtrodden Russian masses to get their support, only to bring in the Red Terror in return.

As history warns, the Islamists, if successful in seizing power, will internally perpetrate a Khmer Rouge/Khomeini-type bloodbath the likes of which Egypt has never seen before. The first victims will most likely be the country’s religious minorities. Externally, they will involve Egypt in a jihad/war against Israel, Europe or the Shiites and, like Iran, strive to build nuclear weapons.

Thus, Western countries and Israel are, naturally, viewing the events in Egypt with grave concern. The West must be prepared to confront the fact that it may be faced in Egypt with an approaching hostile, failed state, similar to Pakistan and Somalia, where terrorists will be welcome. If Obama fails to play this precarious situation right, and drops the ball like Carter disastrously did in 1979 by pulling the rug from under the Shah’s feet in Iran, then this dire situation could coalesce into Islamists capturing Egypt. Sometimes, as with Mubarak, the devil you know is better than the one you don’t.

Does Obama grasp the gravity of the situation and does he have the geopolitical know-how to deal with it?

The Parallel Government
Of The Entire World

All of us, every single man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth were born with the same unalienable rights; to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And, if the governments of the world can't get that through their thick skulls, then, regime change will be necessary.

Infidel Babe Of The Week
Can it be anyone else?

IBA Quote of the Week.

“The impulse to both communism/fascism seems to stem from an ultimately childish desire, that is, The world of people is too complicated and I want to make it simple and get it under control. Almost like the political projection of obsessive-compulsive disorder. With OCD you want to make it so that every carpet thread is in its place, with the collectivist-socialist fantasy you want to make it so that every person is in his place. Smooth out differences so they aren't visible (or there are only a few differences, i.e. you think only in terms of 'classes'), that way the large complexity of things doesn't confuse me and I don't have to think about individual people. To think of the world as a large differentiated collection of individual people all doing and wanting different things is frightening. Must....get...it...under...control...and...manage it. That's the motive of the communist and the fascist alike."

The Infidel Bloggers Alliance Radio Show

Gathering Storm Report Radio Show

"An Islamic regime must be serious in every field," explained Ayatollah Khomeini. "There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humour in Islam. There is no fun in Islam."

****************

"I want to be very, very clear, however: I understand and agree with the analysis of the problem. There is an imminent threat. It manifested itself on 9/11. It's real and grave. It is as serious a threat as Stalinism and National Socialism were. Let's not pretend it isn't."~~~~~Bono~~~~~